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For some time now, I've been using Micheal Hardings glaze medium in the final few hours of a painting. It's a beautiful medium to use and allows me to add in a final cirrus cloud into a sky or to add a a bit of depth and shine to a final piece.However, of late I've started to experiment in standing oil, applied rather thickly. It can produce a marbling effect. It almost turns part of the oil painting into a resin look or even an enamel. I quite like it. In fact I like it a lot in terms of the potential effects it creates, but I'm unsure yet whether it sits well with my other finished work.Standing oil is both an acquired art and an acquired taste, but there's no point in sitting back with just what we know, we need to push into what we don't know.

I'm really looking forward to my forthcoming exhibition at the Yard Gallery in Salisbury. So a bank holiday Monday is the ideal time to make sure I'm fully prepared for it. I've been varnishing today. I use "Zest-it", damar re-touching varnish and it's great. It really brings out a depth of colour that enhances some of my more colourful canvases. There's still much to be done, but the body of work I've built up, is really beginning to feel like a complete set of work, ready to exhibit!